Represents the first integrated effort to deal with age as a crucial variable in the social system. Of special interest to sociologists for whom the sociology of age seems destined to become a special field.

MATILDA WHITE RILEY, MARILYN JOHNSON, and ANNE FONER are in the Department of Sociology at Rutgers University. CONTRIBUTORS: John A. Clausen, Richard Cohn, Anne Foner, Beth Hess, Marilyn Johnson, Robert K. Merton, Edward E. Nelson, Talcott Parsons, Gerald Platt, Matilda White Riley, Norman B. Ryder, Harris Schrank, Bernice C. Starr, and Harriet Zuckerman